WCW Thunder - Thursday, June 10, 1999

Trivia Question: (submitted by R. Hopkins) Before Rick Steiner's success with his brother as a tag team, he was not billed as hailing from Detroit as he is now. Where was his hometown before then?

Before we get to this week's report, I want to inform my readers out there that I will not be covering Thunder on June 24th and July 1st due to being out of town. Dan will be my replacement on those two occasions. For the three people out there that will miss me while I am gone, I will return to action on July 8th.

Last week, I asked for a public opinion on what would make a good youth-versus-experience WarGames matchup. Below, you will find the results of the poll.

A total of 27 readers responded to the poll. Each respondant selected four men from each team, although a few readers only gave picks for one of the two teams. Without further ado, the results:

The Young Whippersnappers

Wrestler

Votes

"The Canadian Crippler" Chris Benoit

21

"The Man of 1,000 Holds" Dean Malenko

15

Marcus "Buff" Bagwell

13

Raven

11

Perry Saturn

9

(Billy) Kidman

8

(Bill) Goldberg

7

"Lionhart" Chris Jericho

6

Disco Inferno

4

Rey Mysterio, Jr.

4

Sting

2

Seven people tied with...

1

As you can see, the youth squad, which would probably be the face team, would consist of Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Buff Bagwell and Raven. This is somewhat of an interesting team, as Raven has had issues with Chris Benoit since 1997 and more recently with Dean Malenko. (Malenko did make a run-in save for Benoit, battling Raven's Flock during Souled Out '98, however.) Bagwell has no real history with the other three teammates.

Saturn and Kidman barely missed out on joining their former Flock leader in battle. Goldberg and Jericho got a surprisingly good amount of votes considering their M.I.A. status from WCW television as of late. Disco and Mysterio also had a small showing of fans, as did Sting, who cannot really qualify as young at his stage of the game, but hey. Sting's the proverbial fan favorite, so why shouldn't he get votes?

Among other nominees: Kevin Nash, Blitzkrieg, Kanyon, Konnan, Lodi, Scott Norton and The Cat. It would be interesting to see Norton and Miller get along. I'd also love to see Malenko give Konnan an ice-cold stare as he runs through his catchphrases.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars

Wrestler

Votes

"The Nature Boy" Ric Flair

23

"The Macho Man" Randy Savage

17

"Diamond Dallas" Page

16

"Hollywood" Hulk Hogan

13

Bam Bam Bigelow

8

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper

7

"Big Sexy" Kevin Nash

4

Curt Hennig

3

Scott Hall

3

Six people tied with...

1

If the young guys are the faces, then the veterans would be heels. As far as voting goes, there were no real surprises here. The majority of you went with Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Diamond Dallas Page, and Hollywood Hulk Hogan. All four of these men have a history with each other, so it would be interesting to see how they would cooperate. Fun fact: Of these four, Page is the only wrestler that did not actually wrestle in the WWF. I read somewhere on the 'net that Page did make a non-wrestling appearance on an older WWF pay-per-view, but I cannot confirm.

The voting for the veterans was not nearly as spread out as it was with the youngsters, as fifth-place Bam Bam Bigelow missed out by five votes. Roddy Piper got his share, but thankfully will not be unveiling a new catch phrase this September. Kevin Nash made a better showing here than in the youth department, but keep in mind he can play a face and a heel well, so it would be hard to tell what side he would be on. Had Curt Hennig and Scott Hall acquired more votes, they could have done a reprise of their tag-team days in the AWA.

The following received one vote: Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Asya, Bret Hart, David Flair and Kanyon. I could honestly see young Davey fumble the blade after getting rammed into the cage, pick it up and blade ON CAMERA... cutting his shoulder. Heck, Asya could win WarGames herself by looking at people and turning them to stone. I mean, we've had two guys go over eight sometime in '95, why not a chick over seven guys?

Keep in mind, this is just a scientific survey of what several DDT Digest readers think would happen if the Young-Against-Old feud really took off and involved a WarGames match-up. There is no real way to tell what can happen with exception to waiting until the actual WarGames occurs. We can be assured of two things, however:

The heels will win the coin toss, and;

Blading will be minimal or non-existent.

To keep the filler short, there will be no mailbag this week.

Opening montage.

We are LIVE from Syracuse, NY for two hours of Thunder!

Speaking of which, there was a hellacious thunderstorm in Orlando while the show was aired, thus tonight's report comes to you from the UCF computer lab.

Tenay and Zbyzsko cover the booth tonight, if there was any doubt. They talk about the Humvee incident on Nitro.

We cut to a shot inside a limosine with Randy Savage and his three elves.

Savage commands the limo driver to stop the vehicle because he sees Kevin Nash on the side of the road.

Savage goes to the man standing next to his wrecked car and attacks him.

What Savage thought was Nash was actually Brian "Thumper" Adams.

Savage and Thumper exchange some unpleasantries.

What's funny is that while this was recorded, it was bright as day outside. Here in the Orlando area, it was just getting dark. Orlando and Syracuse share the same time zone. But, heavens, would I dare think that this wasn't live, no siree!

A Sting vs. Rick Steiner promo airs for the Great American Bash.

Fun with Savage and Nash.

On the entryway, Gene the Cueball calls out Buff Bagwell.

Buff gets some cheap heat by asking Syracuse what's up.

Gene says Roddy Piper has great news for all of us. Unless Piper is retiring for good, shut up, Gene.

Gene says that Buff will face Disco Inferno at the Bash and excitingly say that he "got the ball." What a maroon.

A displeased Buff says to the camera that he deserves a chance.

Buff mentions how in the eight years he's worked for WCW that a thumb has been placed over his head.

Buff tells Piper not to hold a thumb on him.

The Cat makes his way out.

Cat says he deserves to hold the ball.

I'd like to see The Cat receive a kick in the balls.

Buff says that Piper wanted someone to carry the ball, not fumble it.

Cat calls Gene "bird legs." Yes!

Gene tries to get Sonny Onoo to stick for him.

Onoo responds by saying Gene is old. Good job!

In a flash of brilliance, Buff says that this isn't Tae Kwon Do, it's wrestling.

Buff makes a challenge to The Cat in Syracuse.

Cat obliges and actually gets away with using the word "ass" without the censors blocking it.

Tenay shills the trailer for the new Austin Powers movie. I like Tenay and all, but let's save all the corporate ass-kissing for Schiavone.